


Truth Or Dare

by Heliocat



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Banter, Bonding, Boys Will Be Boys, Cape Cod, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Innuendo, M/M, Male Friendship, Multi, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Regrets, Revelations, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:21:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23815288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heliocat/pseuds/Heliocat
Summary: Ash and Shorter know plenty of things about each other, but they really don't know much about Eiji, and he is completely clueless about them. They play 'Truth or Dare' in Cape Cod to pass the time.Just three lads mucking about. Plenty of innuendo and friendly banter, mainly played for laughs. Rated M for safety, really, there's nothing too hardcore here.
Relationships: Ash Lynx & Okumura Eiji & Shorter Wong
Comments: 12
Kudos: 83





	Truth Or Dare

**Author's Note:**

> Reeeeeeeeeeeeally churning these out in lockdown. I'm either very inspired or very bored, or some combination of the two... I do love writing about these boys though. I imagined here that they still weren't especially close, and were trying to learn more about each other to gain trust. 
> 
> Please note, anything written <"like this"> is Eiji talking in Japanese. I'm English, so I use British spelling. And it's rated M for language used and just for safety reasons for a few descriptions and honest male responses.
> 
> Many thanks to Akimi Yoshida for creating Banana Fish - this is a work of fanfiction, so I own none of the intellectual property.

Max and Ibe had gone to bed early. Max, having driven through the night to the Cape, was having real difficulty keeping his eyes open from the mid-afternoon onwards, and had retreated to Griff’s old room in the early evening. They had heard him snoring in Griff’s bed contentedly since then. Ibe had followed him at around 10pm. He was also in Griff’s room, in a sleeping bag on a camping mat on the floor. He had said that Max deserved the bed for driving, and he would prefer to give the trio their privacy. Thankfully, Griff’s room was annexed out the back, so they could be pretty loud without waking the two sleeping gents.

It was now nearing midnight and, despite being tired, all three of them were still up late for varying reasons.

Ash was up late because this house brought back a lot of complicated thoughts and memories. Some were happy; memories of Griff, lazy summer days spent hanging out with his older brother, listening to him read out his sappy poems and helping him with chores around the house. Those memories were bittersweet, knowing he was gone forever, but also feeling grateful to have been a part of his life, and Griff his, even if their happy times together were short. Then there were the bad memories. His mother abandoning him. He barely remembered her, and what he did was hazy and possibly just in his imagination; the scent of perfume, long blonde hair, a love of red clothing… snippets of a woman he couldn’t understand. His absent drunk of a father, a man who only called by if he wanted or needed something. To be fair to his old man, Jim Callenreese was not a -bad- person per se, even if he said hurtful things sometimes. He had never beaten them and he left them with enough money to survive comfortably on. Gruff old bastard just wasn’t all that great with kids. He gave it a decent shot with Griff in his early childhood, but things got complicated in his love life and he retreated from his children.

The worst memory of all was the elephant in the room. He had never discussed that event with anyone – not even Shorter. It was just too terrifying and painful and, worse even than the event itself, was that nobody had helped him at the time. Some had blamed him for it, victim shaming of the worst kind. Who really accuses a little kid of something like that??? He pushed that memory into the darkest part of his mind, repressing it into as small and deep a crevice as he could squish it into, ignoring the taste of bile that rose into his throat every time he even considered it. 

Shorter’s reasons for being awake were simpler and more animalistic. He had first night syndrome, and was finding it hard to settle down in a strange place. He was tired and would sleep eventually, probably at an earlier hour than his other companions. He was used to moving around, couch surfing and sleeping wherever was safe, but he was only human.

Eiji was simply excited. This was a new part of America – he had only intended to visit New York with Ibe, and even then only a tiny part of it. To find himself out in the rural boondocks… well, it was an experience. He knew he needed to be careful, but he also wanted badly to explore, the Japanese tourist in him longing to visit all the local attractions, to walk along the beach, to take photos and eat mountains of the local food until he was too stuffed to move. It was a childish reason to be awake, but it was so… _Eiji_. He had spent the better part of the afternoon thoroughly examining every corner of the house and garden, taking in every detail of this western-style house where Ash had grown up in his early years. He had been particularly enamoured by Ash’s old bedroom, which had remained in pretty much the exact same state it had been left in almost ten years ago. It was a child’s room; a few rough crayon drawings stuck to a wardrobe, a handful of soft toys on the bed, board games and jigsaws littering a shelf, several children’s books piled on a nightstand. Griffin had made sure he always had something to read. He had compared it to his own room back home, what he’d had as a kid… his house in Izumo was modern, and he commented lightly that, these days at least, the Americans and the Japanese were not so different after all.

“Well, I think it’s obvious none of us are going to sleep any time soon,” Shorter said matter-of-factly. “I don’t feel tired, Eiji looks like Christmas is coming tomorrow, and Ash… honestly, buddy, I’m a little worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” Ash said dismissively. He did look a little pale, and he wasn’t acting quite as vibrant as usual. He hadn’t wanted to return here in the first place, but they were here now. He just had to make the best of it.

“Maybe we should play game?” Eiji suggested. “There are board game in bedroom?”

“Board games?” Shorter sniggered. “My friend, how innocent are you?”

“Was just idea,” Eiji replied sheepishly.

“No, it’s a good idea,” Ash defended him. “A game may help us relax a bit, but I think we can do something a little better than ‘Connect 4’ and ‘Pop-Up Pirate’.”

“What you got in mind, Ash?” Shorter queried, curious.

“Well, I was thinking… we don’t really know all that much about each other,” Ash said. “I mean, sure, I know Shorter… but neither of us know Eiji all that well, and he certainly doesn’t have a clue about us.”

“Oh, I see where you’re going with this…” Shorter nodded. “Yeah - that could be fun!”

“Do you have ‘Truth or Dare’ in Japan?” Ash asked, genuinely curious. “If not, we can explain the rules.”

“I have heard of game, I think…” Eiji said. “One where you ask personal question or do trial?”

“Bingo!” Shorter said. “You can choose a truth or a dare, but if you pick truth and don’t answer, you gotta do a dare as a forfeit!”

“House rules though,” Ash said. “We all know I was a slut of the highest order, and not through choice, so it is taboo to ask me any questions about my first time, or how far I have gone in the bedroom. Because I have done things so depraved and so sickening, I doubt even God himself could forgive my sins.”

“We can ask you about romance though, right?” Shorter asked.

“Sex and romance are two separate entities that just happen to share a bed sometimes,” Ash shrugged. “Romance is fine.”

“So Ash gets a pass on the sexy questions, but everyone else is fair game,” Shorter confirmed. “Agreed?”

Eiji nodded his understanding, not completely sure if he was going to enjoy himself or not. He was curious about his two new friends though, and wanted to know more about them. They were both so private, a couple of closed books usually. He suspected their conversations may lean more towards more adult topics though…

“Alright then, I’ll start,” Ash said. “Shorter: truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“If you were a girl for a day, what would you do?”

“Probably masturbate,” Shorter said immediately and truthfully.

“What?!” Ash laughed. Eiji looked a little shocked at his revelation. If he was a girl, he’d probably just try on some nice dresses and make-up for a bit, see what it was like to feel pretty. Maybe he’d wear a cosplay, take some photos, have some innocent fun. Shorter, however, had just dived straight to the clitoris without barely a thought to anything else.

“Well, think about it,” Shorter said, explaining his motives. “The female orgasm is supposed to be superior to ours, right? They have so much more down there to play with than we do, and they can come several times in a row – it only takes them a few minutes to recover and they’re ready to go again! Wouldn’t you be curious what a multiple orgasm was like?”

“Maybe…” Ash said, bordering on agreeing with him. “I’d probably just mess with a few guys. You know, go flirt with them at a bar, lead them on, have some fun that way.”

“Oh, that’s so evil,” Shorter laughed. “You really are a thot!”

“You both perverts,” Eiji told them.

“I bet you’re not as innocent as you seem,” Ash said. “Truth or dare.”

“…Truth,” Eiji said tentatively.

“What is the meanest thing you have ever done or said to anyone,” Shorter asked him.

“Oh! Good one!” Ash complimented him. “Tell us, cinnamon bun! What have you done to make someone cry?”

“I… I… ano…”

“You must have done something horrible at some point?” Shorter said. “Punched a bastard in the face? Flipped a teacher the bird? Said no to a girl? Anything!”

“I… have argued with mother. I call her many name…” he admitted, not making eye contact with either of them. He was ashamed of himself for arguing with her and talking back to her; it was just not the done thing in Japan, or anywhere for that matter. Your parents are your law and you were supposed to respect them. “But she cheated on father while he in hospital! I was mad, but feel bad about some things said…”

“Oh, what a bitch,” Ash said in a quiet voice.

“Please do not call my mother ‘bitch’,” Eiji pleaded, defending her case. “It was hard for her! Father very ill, she very stressed.”

“Not really an excuse to cheat on your husband though,” Shorter shrugged. “You take a vow when you get married. You’re not the asshole there.”

“Still regret words,” Eiji murmured. “Mother raise me, and I love her very much. Feel bad every day at some things said.” 

“Aww, cheer up! I’ve probably called my sister worse,” Shorter said lightly. “She once introduced my face to a wall after I called her an ugly, flat-chested old bag.”

“Can you blame her?” Ash snorted. “I’d introduce your face to a wall for a Klondike Bar!”

“Hey! Mean!”

“Eiji, I wouldn’t feel too bad about arguing with your Mom,” Ash reassured him kindly. “I told my Old Man he was the worst excuse for a father I had ever met… and I did that, like, maybe three hours ago? We argued all the time when I lived here, especially after Griff left. No regrets! I don’t think she’ll harbour any grudge against you for telling her a few home truths. She shouldn’t have cheated and you didn’t agree with her actions. End of.”

“She flirt with Ibe-san too,” Eiji added. “Ibe stay over house several times in past. He no respond to her, but she… what you call them? Older lady, flirt with younger men? Tiger?”

“Cougar,” Ash said.

“Yes! She coo-gah!”

“What she is, Eiji, is a hoe who raised a saint, so she ain’t all bad,” Shorter said with a shrug. “Anyway, ask one of us a question.”

“Truth or dare… Ash.”

“Truth.”

“Eto… Oh! If you invisible for an hour, what you do?”

“Hmm… the real question there is who do I kill?” Ash said thoughtfully. “Golzine or Arthur? I can only logically get one of them in an hour, unless they’re in a room together, in which case I could just do a murder spree. Stab stab, run away naked and invisible into the night!” He mimed a stabbing motion in the air.

“Kinky! Who said you’d need to be naked to be invisible?” Shorter pointed out, smirking.

“I just kinda assumed clothing wouldn’t become invisible, and they’d get suspicious if a floating pair of jeans and a T-shirt just walked into the room with a knife.”

“But even if you’re starkers, wouldn’t they see the knife?”

“Guess I’m strangling them then!”

“That takes too long – you’d be lucky to off one of them, never mind both! I thought you were smart? You’re invisible, not invulnerable! They can still whack you with something…”

“Then I’ll either have to hit them really hard in the right places and hope to kill them that way, or just shoot them from a distance.”

“Naked with a gun. How very Ash Lynx,” Shorter tittered.

“Shut up!”

“What would you do with invisibility, Eiji?” Shorter asked him, noticing him being decidedly left out of their murderous debate.

“Me? Probably panic,” Eiji said. “I no see hand or feet, I no see self in mirror… it scary! I probably think I dead!”

“Good point,” Shorter nodded. “This is why you are the sensible one. I dub thee Sir Okumura the Practical!”

“Oooh – fun! If that’s what I thought had happened, I’d become a vengeful poltergeist and haunt my foes!” Ash said. “That way, I can scare the crap out of them before I stab them!”

“You’re a violent little shit, aren’t you?” Shorter said sarcastically.

“You say the nicest things about me,” Ash feigned flattery. “So… truth or dare!”

“Dare!”

“Shave your mohawk.”

“What?! Fuck no man – gimmie another!”

“Shave the ‘hawk or answer a truth,” Ash pressed. “Griff has an old hair trimmer lying around somewhere… or we can find you some scissors and you can just snip it off!”

“Bitch…”

“Alright, you pick truth by default… Let’s say you have a real big crush on a fine piece of ass, and they told you they fancied me instead – and, I mean, who can blame them? What would you do?”

“Nothing.”

“Seriously? You’d do nothing?”

“Look, if they like you and not me, there isn’t a lot I can do about it. I’d move on, knowing it was a lost cause, and try to keep them as a friend. If you also showed an interest in them, I’d play matchmaker and be happy for you both.”

“Booooooring…” Ash moaned.

“That very selfless,” Eiji said, smiling. “You are kind person.”

“Not really…” Shorter said, scratching the back of his head and blushing a faint rosy pink. He was a little flattered; not many people had said he was kind before. “Errrm… Truth or dare?”

“Can I try dare?” Eiji asked shyly. Shorter and Ash looked at each other, as if telepathically tying to come up with something not overly mean they could have Eiji do. He was too nice a person to subject to abject humiliation.

“How about… ah! Japanese people hate liquorice, right?” Ash said, an idea coming to him. “Griff used to get these British cough lozenges that have menthol and liquorice in them. I saw a packet of them earlier – hang on!” He stood and walked out to the kitchen. They heard him rummaging around in a drawer before he returned with a small wax paper packet with a picture of a fishing vessel on it. “They don’t have a date on then, so they’re OK to eat. It’s just sugar and flavouring anyway. You just have to eat one of them.”

“One candy?”

“Yup!”

“OK, I can do that,” Eiji took the packet from Ash and examined it. “Fisherman Friend? Weird name.”

“Yeah, well, they are British,” Ash said by way of explanation. “They eat things called ‘Spotted Dick’ and ‘Toad-in-the-Hole’, so ‘Fisherman’s Friend’ is pretty tame by their naming standards.”

Eiji opened the packet and sniffed it. He wrinkled his nose at the strong odour of eucalyptus and the medicinal aniseed scent of liquorice, a distasteful expression creasing his features. He tipped a single chalky lozenge out into his hand; a small cream oval with ‘FF’ stamped into it, like a pill. He sniffed it again.

“Smell strong…” he said. <”Thank you for the food…”>

He popped the lozenge into his mouth. Moments later, he made an obvious noise of disgust, throwing a hand over his mouth, face screwed up like he was sucking on a lemon.

“Is it good?” Shorter asked him. Violently, he shook his head.

<”It tastes like something both cold and hot!”> he said with distress, blabbering in his native tongue, physically incapable of using English at that moment. <”I can feel it burning my sinuses! Shit! It’s disgusting!”>

“You gotta swallow it!” Ash encouraged him, laughing. “Swallow it, and I’ll get you some water!”

Eiji whined pitifully, and tried to slip the lozenge to the back of his tongue so he could forcefully swallow it whole. It took him a couple of attempts, and he flailed his hands while struggling to swallow the hard little candy, but eventually he got it down. He gasped, coughed a few times, and showed the other two his now-empty mouth.

“Good boy!” Shorter said, patting his shoulder while Ash went back to the kitchen to fetch a glass. “You ate that like a champ!”

“It nasty…” Eiji said, voice strained.

“They can’t be that bad…” Shorter said, picking up the packet. He tipped a lozenge out and shoved it in his own mouth… and had a very similar reaction to Eiji shortly afterwards.

“Fuck!” he swore, spitting it out. “I don’t know if my mouth is freezing or on fire! And I hate liquorice! Blearghhh…”

Ash came back with two glasses, and handed one to each of them, laughing. “I used to hate them when I was a kid too,” he said. “Griff used them exclusively for sore throats and blocked noses. His Mom was the one who taught him about them.”

“They certainly clear the passages…” Shorter coughed while Eiji downed his water desperately. He gasped for air after drinking it all in one.

“I’m going to ask for a dare while you’re both incapacitated,” Ash sniggered. “Do your worst, boys!”

“Jennifer-san gave us ice earlier,” Eiji said, his voice still husky from eating the cough sweet. “It not all melted yet?”

“Nah, there’s still some in the bucket in the kitchen,” Ash confirmed. “Max put some cans of soda in it. Also two bottles of beer. Might drink that later.”

“OK… put ice cube in underpants!” Eiji dared him.

“That’s stupid…” Ash said, a wary tone to his voice.

“Ooooooooh! No – it’s great! I’m starting to like your thinking, Eiji!” Shorter professed, grinning. He scrambled to his feet, chuckling, and trotted to the kitchen. There came a damp sloshing sound, a few metallic clinks, and he returned triumphantly holding a large shard of dripping ice. He approached Ash menacingly.

“Don’t you dare…!”

“You scared?”

“I am warning you…!”

“Prepare yourself, buddy, I’m going in cold!”

“No wait, Shorter – don’t-“

Shorter pounced on him, pushing him down onto his front and pinning him to the floor in one fluid movement. Ash squirmed, cursing, unable to shift the larger boy from him in time. Quickly, Shorter deftly pulled the waistband of Ash’s jeans and boxers out and dropped the ice into the void. 

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” he squealed as the ice hit him squarely in his butt crack and slid down between peachy cheeks into deeper, darker pastures, coming to a rest nestled next to his perineum. Shorter released him and he leapt to his feet in a frenzied dance, eyes wide, shocked by the cold. Shorter and Eiji roared with laugher as he hopped around the living room, trying to shake the ice loose from his underwear, gripping at his butt like he was extracting a wedgie. “You guys are evil!” he hissed, finally dislodging the horrid moist rock of coldness, which fell to the floor with a dull thud. He was now left with a cool, damp patch in the crotch of his undies. “That was fucking cold!”

“Of course it cold – it ice!” Eiji wheezed. “Hahaha – in panties! So funny!”

“Shut up!” Ash growled. “It’s not that funny!”

“Oh, dude, it’s better than funny – it’s fucking hilarious!” Shorter crowed, rolling around the floor in glee, clutching his stomach. “Your face was a picture!”

“Whatever. I think my testicles re-ascended… Truth or dare,” Ash spat, sitting back down.

“Truth!”

“What are your top three turn ons?” Ash asked him.

“Breasts, thighs, ass,” Shorter said dismissively.

“What, is a person like a KFC value menu now?” Ash said. “You just get turned on by material parts?”

“What do you expect me to say, Ash?” Shorter shrugged.

“I dunno. Maybe you’d get turned on by some shapely legs in high heels doing a sexy dance just for you, or maybe a nice lacy set of lingerie, slowly being removed in a sensual way, or, I dunno, just someone being nice to you and giving you a massage maybe?”

“…that does all sound rather appealing…”

“You did used to jack off to a Christmas angel though, so I dunno what I expected from you really…” Ash said.

“Christmas angel?” Eiji queried.

“Noooo…” Shorter moaned, embarrassed.

“So, in juvie, Shorter had this old Christmas card his sister had sent him. Had an angel on it, real pretty-looking blonde bint, scantily clad, you know, like a holy whore…”

“Don’t call my angel a ‘holy whore’,” Shorter whined. “She was beautiful, man!”

“He admitted to me that when he got lonely he would… how shall we put it…?”

“He would pleasure self, looking at angel?” Eiji said, a slight grin quirking the corner of his lips. He looked at Shorter with a knowing expression, like he simultaneously approved and condemned his blasphemous actions.

“He ain’t getting into heaven any time soon, that’s for sure!” Ash smirked, smacking Shorter on the back companionably. “He also said I looked like the angel, so take that as you want.”

“I stopped using it as whacking material after that connection was made…” Shorter admitted. “She lost her appeal…”

“Truth or dare, Eiji.”

“Truth please.”

“Tell us about your first kiss,” Shorter said. “What was it like? Some sexy little Japanese minx, I bet!”

“…n… no…” Eiji admitted, suddenly turning a rather vibrant shade of scarlet.

“She wasn’t Japanese?” Ash queried. “What, you had a tryst with a foreign exchange student? Or have you had your first kiss since coming to the States or sommat?”

“Here…” Eiji nodded, his flush spreading and deepening, and he fidgeted uncomfortably, holding the lower hem of his shirt in both hands and wringing it nervously.

“Whoooooo! Eiji, you player!” Shorter jeered, grinning ear to ear. “What was she like? Maybe we know her!”

“…you know them…” Eiji admitted in a small, timid voice, staring at the carpet and willing a hole to spontaneously open up in it and swallow him.

Ash suddenly froze as an understanding fell upon him. “Erm… Eiji…?”

“Describe them,” Shorter butted in, excited, leaning in with a glint in his eyes.

“Blonde…” Eiji said sheepishly. He didn’t really want to continue, he was so embarrassed.

“Eiji, I am so sorry!” Ash blurted out suddenly. “I didn’t think it would be your… shit, you’re nineteen and that was your first?”

“Ash, what are you going on about?” Shorter asked, confused.

“I, err, may have kissed Eiji in jail,” he admitted bashfully.

“What?!”

“It was the only way I could get a message out of there unseen!” he insisted, articulating with his hands. “I passed him a capsule with a note in it by mouth – they all thought I was a fag, so it didn’t arouse any suspicion! I didn’t think it would be his first time!”

“Eiji – do not count that as your first!” Shorter said. “You keep your innocence, OK?”

“No… it OK! Really!” Eiji insisted, flustered. “I do not mind!”

“Eiji, I fondled your ass…” Ash said. “Your first kiss was with some jailbait queer you barely know who felt you up afterwards! And after all you did for my sake… I don’t think I can ever apologise enough for that!”

“I do not mind!” Eiji repeated. Truth be told, he had kind-of enjoyed it.

“Seriously though… nineteen and never been kissed?” Shorter said sceptically.

“Japanese do not show affection very much,” Eiji said candidly. “It kind of nice Americans can.”

“OK. One more and I’m calling it a night,” Ash said, just as embarrassed at that last reveal as Eiji had been. “Gimmie a truth.”

“We both ate those Fisherman’s Friends, so… what’s the grossest thing you’ve ever had in your mouth?” Shorter asked.

“No comment,” Ash said bluntly. “Ask me something else.”

“Oh shit, yeah… sorry!”

“What most expensive thing you stole?” Eiji asked.

“The most expensive thing I’ve stolen?” Ash repeated. “Oh God… that’s a hard one. I don’t really make a habit of stealing anything! I stole a Rolls Royce once though!”

“You steal Rolls?” Eiji sounded impressed at that. His eyes lit up with respect and awe.

“Well, not really steal when it’s kinda yours to begin with…” he admitted. “Golzine brought me it as a present when I turned fifteen, with the intention of me learning to drive and getting a license at sixteen, but I took it for a joyride to piss him off and abandoned it somewhere in Chinatown. He sent his men out to reclaim it, and it sits in his garage now. I’ve not driven it since.”

“Amateur! That’s hardly theft,” Shorter snorted. “You basically just took something that already belonged to you.”

“Just because you used to be a pickpocket and thieve petty things from tourists, doesn’t mean we all have sticky fingers,” Ash said scathingly. “If I wanted to, I could literally steal millions from Golzine via stocks and shares with just a few clicks of a computer mouse. I know all his passwords, and he has no clue I have that information.”

“Nobody suspects a… erm… boy of the night?” Shorter quipped.

“I guess it does have it’s advantages sometimes…” Ash said tiredly. “Also, that makes me sound like Batman rather than a prostitute, and I kinda like that. I’m using that description in the future.”

“Did you ever just take the money and run sometimes?” Shorter asked, genuinely curious.

“I did once,” Ash admitted. “I was twelve. Fat bastard paid me up front then went to prepare himself, so I just… walked out while he was in the bathroom. I went to the hideout, brought everyone pizza, and left the delivery boy a huge tip. Golzine had Marvin beat the living shit out of me when I returned… I couldn’t walk for two weeks and it hurt to breathe for over a month. I never did it again. Golzine upped the price and got everyone to pay him personally in advance for the privilege.”

“Shit man, your childhood sucked,” Shorter said sympathetically.

“Sometimes it blowed,” Ash replied with a smirk, to which Shorter snorted with withheld laughter in reply. He often found dark or filthy humour was the best way to deal with his trauma. It broke the tension in the room when his past was brought up. Plus, whenever he was threatened or scared, he instinctively turned to sarcasm and innuendo as a coping mechanism, which had a double whammy effect of both pissing off his enemies as well as grounding him and keeping his mind from veering off into blind panic. It also gave off an impression of bravado and false confidence – it was a surprisingly effective technique! It didn’t work very well on someone like Eiji though, who’s grasp of the English language, especially of slang terms and nuances in tone that can change meanings, was tenuous at best. He sat opposite him with a genuinely sad expression on his face as he stared at him with pity and concern in his dark eyes. “Please don’t look at me like that, Eiji, you remind me of a kicked puppy!” he pleaded.

“I am sorry, I just… feel bad for you,” he admitted. “You were hurt very bad in childhood. There are horrible people in the world.”

“Yeah, and I will get even with every single one of them,” Ash promised with a dark and dangerous edge to his voice.

“Does that include me?” Shorter joked, pointing at himself. “I’m a horrible person.”

“Nah – for some reason, I like you,” Ash said, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “In my new world order, you shall be the last one I kill.”

“You honour me, Lord Lynx,” Shorter said, bowing down to Ash in jest.

“Arise, Lord Wong, for you shall be spared until another day!” Ash responded. They both laughed.

“Great! Well, now I know you’re not going to shoot me in the night, I think it’s time I hit the hay,” Shorter said, yawning and stretching with fatigue. “Mind if I take that very comfortable looking patch of floor in your old room?”

“I might still shoot you if you snore,” Ash told him. “I’m taking the bed! Eiji, you can have the couch in here. It’s probably more comfortable than the bed anyway.”

“I don’t snore!”

“Yeah, you do!”

“You’re lying!”

“I wish I was – you sound like a dying bulldog sometimes!”

Eiji giggled at them as they bantered back and forth. They both looked at him to see him trying not to laugh while tears of mirth rolled down his cheeks.

“What’s the matter with you?” Ash asked him.

“Nothing! It just… you two sound like regular kid,” he tittered. “It funny! You big gang bosses! Supposed to be scary and tough, but you argue like married couple!”

“Huh?”

“It just… it nice to see you human like everyone else,” he smiled happily. “You good people. Good friend. I enjoy spending time with you.”

“Aww… Eiji!” Shorter looked embarrassed at the Japanese boy’s honest words. “You are just so cluelessly adorable!” He ruffled Eiji’s hair good naturedly, earning himself a squeak of protest from Eiji. “We love you too, buddy!”

What tonight had revealed to Eiji was that Shorter was a pervert, but he was a pervert with morals at least, and with Ash it was difficult to tell sometimes when he was joking or serious. There really wasn’t much difference between them and people his own age back home. They laughed at simple pranks, innuendos, and shenanigans. American gangs got sensationalised in the media as violent and scary but, really, they were just regular kids with a difficult life. ‘I guess you really can’t judge books by their covers,’ he thought to himself fondly.

**Author's Note:**

> I actually sort-of like Fisherman's Friends, but they are an acquired taste (plus, I adore liquorice things - whenever I've been to Scandinavia, the first thing I do is eat my weight in salmiak which, considering I am one rather husky puppy, is a lot of salt liquorice!) I do usually only eat them when I have a cold. You tend to find them in pharmacies here - people don't normally eat them for fun in the UK, and they are medicinal in nature. They come in different flavours, but the original flavour, sometimes called 'menthol' flavour, is a combination of liquorice extract, eucalyptus, and capiscum extract (pepper). They are very strong tasting, and are popular in Germany and Norway, where liquorice is generally well liked anyway.


End file.
